The Impact of Sound Logos on Consumer Brand Evaluation, AMA

Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
THE IMPACT OF SOUND LOGOS ON CONSUMER BRAND EVALUATION
Working paper by
Dirk C. Moosmayer & Marc Melan
An earlier version has been presented on 14.08.10 at the
AMA Summer Marketing Educators’ Conference in Boston
Dirk C. Moosmayer (corresponding)
University of Nottingham Business School China
199, Taikang East Road; University Park
Ningbo, 315100, China
E-mail: [email protected]
Marc Melan
nurago GmbH applied research technologies
Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse 24
D-30159 Hannover, Germany
1
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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THE IMPACT OF SOUND LOGOS ON CONSUMER BRAND EVALUATION
Abstract: Acoustic elements have recently gained in importance in the context of changing conditions for brand communication. In this context, short identifying acoustic elements, known as
sound logos, are becoming an integral part of consistent acoustic brand management. We model
the impact of perceived fit of a sound logo with a brand (perceived fit) and of consumer attitudes
towards a sound logo (consumer attitudes) on consumer brand evaluation. To validate the model, we apply structural equation modeling to 340 responses from an online experiment. In doing
so, we differentiate between sound logos and continuous background music in three industries.
To obtain a realistic evaluation, the study took a new approach and used genuine sound logos
(recently introduced or from foreign brands) in association with genuine ads and footage. We
found support for the relationship between consumer attitudes and brand evaluation. However,
the impact of perceived fit on brand evaluation was only supported for the background music
condition. For sound logos, the impact of perceived fit on brand evaluation was fully mediated
by consumer attitudes in all three industries. Thus, consumers respond to sound logos with a
high degree of fit because the fit stimulates positive attitudes towards the sound logo. These results support the general assumption that sound logos may contribute to an integrated brand identity. For companies, the results indicate the wisdom of always considering perceived fit of a
sound logo along with consumer attitudes.
Keywords: sound logo; brand evaluation; acoustic branding; online experiment
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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THE IMPACT OF SOUND LOGOS ON CONSUMER BRAND EVALUATION
1. INTRODUCTION
Acoustic elements have recently been gaining in importance within the context of changing conditions of brand communication (Spehr 2008). Interchangeable products and services in saturated
markets tend to go hand in hand with consumer information overload, thus making it difficult to
establish an unmistakable brand identity within the psyche of the consumer (e.g. Mitchell and
Kearney 2002, Walsh, Hennig-Thurau, and Mitchell 2007). Against this backdrop, addressing
the consumer solely by optical stimuli is no longer considered sufficient.
Widening awareness of the high importance of auditive identities is discussed under the
generic term of "acoustic branding". This includes the structured process in which "the auditive"
becomes an integral part of the brand and its identity. Specialists in acoustic branding claim that
consistent acoustic brand management allows better brand differentiation, higher brand recognition, stronger emotionalization and thus an improved experience of the brand (e.g. Bronner 2008;
Kilian 2008). Aside from learning and memory effects, sound logos are also thought to have an
effect on the image of the advertised brand (e.g. Lepa 2004). Short sound logos, such as those
which Intel or T-Mobile have been using for several years now, are becoming a common form of
acoustic branding.
In direct contrast to marketing practice, the scientific investigation of sound logos, their
contribution to an integrated brand identity and their impact on consumer brand evaluation has as
yet been scarce. Consequently, we will investigate how sound logos impact consumer brand
evaluation. In particular we model consumer evaluation of a brand as a result of consumer attitudes towards a sound logo (consumer attitudes) and the perceived fit of a sound logo with the
attached brand (perceived fit). In order to validate the model, we apply structural equation mod-
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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eling to experimental data on sound logos versus background music. Finally, results will be discussed and implications presented.
2. KEY CONCEPTS: BRAND IDENTITY AND ACOUSTIC IDENTITY
2.1. Brand Identity
The challenge of effective brand communication lies in the composition of a brand message that
is consistently focused on imparting the brand identity for all applied instruments of communication (e.g. Roberts and Cayla 2009). Integrated communication methods are seen as an effective
way to raise awareness in the minds of consumers more efficiently, because the formal and content-related reconciliation enhances learning processes better than "fragmented" communication
(O'Guinn, Allen, and Semenik 2008). In discussions of brand identities within marketing practice, multiple "personal" characteristics such as "reliable", "gentle", "strong" or "exciting" are
attributed to a brand (e.g. LaTour and Rotfeld 1997; Aaker 1997). Based on this evaluation, a
brand may correspond to particular products or to certain consumer groups. As a result, each and
every characteristic may be present to a greater or lesser extent, and a brand evaluation is not
good or bad per se. Nevertheless, 2 tendencies may be identified in empirical research (e.g. Kapferer 2008; Steenkamp, Batra, and Alden 2010). A distinct, clear cut identity is advantageous and
likely to go hand-in-hand with business success. The stronger a brand evaluation is, the more
unique it may be perceived and consequently the more advantageous the brand is.
2.2. Acoustic Identity
In most cases, even today, acoustic brand elements are reduced to “jingles”. These can be defined as mostly vocalized, set-to-music central brand messages. Keller defines them as "musical
messages written around the brand" (2008: 164). However, acoustic branding consists of various
other elements. These range from very short sound icons (e.g. a “fizzing” sound when opening a
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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bottle) to complete pieces of music such as brand songs or themes. Sound logos fall anywhere
within this range and are increasingly gaining in importance, as was found in a study conducted
in 2008 which examined 140 TV spots: 68 percent of the companies that had installed an acoustic identity had resorted to this kind of audible brand element (Audio Consulting Group 2009).
We define a sound logo as an identifying acoustic element of a brand with a short running time
(between 0.5 and 3 seconds). As ideal-typical basic forms, a distinction can be drawn between
melodious, “noise-like”, and vocalized sound logos (Melan 2008). Furthermore, any combination
of these 3 forms is possible. Often, sound logos are combined with a visual (animated) logo
(Bronner 2008) which may even correspond with the sound logo, for example in terms of melody
or rhythm (e.g. T-Mobile’s sound and visual logo).
3. THE IMPACT OF ACOUSTIC PERCEPTIONS ON BRAND EVALUATION
In this section we will conceptualize the impact of acoustic elements on consumer brand evaluation. In particular we will consider the perceived fit and consumer attitudes as being determinants of consumer brand evaluation. Moreover, perceived fit is assumed to impact on consumer
attitudes (figure 1). Study of these relationships will be developed in the following paragraphs.
-------------------------------Insert figure 1 about here
-------------------------------3.1 Consumer Attitudes Towards a Sound Logo
Consumer attitudes towards an acoustic element seem to be of relevance to the impact of advertising stimuli on consumer brand evaluation. We will consequently view consumer attitudes as
the paralleling of the sound logo with consumers’ existing subject preferences. Generally, one
might assume that positive stimuli, e.g. acoustic elements which a consumer likes, help in posi-
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
6
tive branding. This is in line with several studies that have investigated the effects of music towards which consumers had positive or negative attitudes on the evaluation of a message source.
Simpkins and Smith (1974) tested radio spots in 3 versions – with a verbal message only and
with a verbal message and alternative types of background music. They found that messages accompanied by music towards which consumers had positive attitudes, have a positive impact on
credibility ratings beyond that of the verbal-only. In contrast, Background music towards which
consumers had negative attitudes, turned out to have an even stronger negative impact on the ratings. Moreover, the relationships of different types of acoustic backgrounds (music to which
consumers have positive, negative or neutral attitudes) were investigated (Bozman, Muelling,
and Pettit-O'Malley 1994). In each case attitudes towards a brand were more favorable when
emotive cues were positive. Accordingly, we hypothesize:
H1: The more positive consumer attitudes towards (a) a sound logo, (b) background music,
the more positive the brand evaluation.
3.2 Perceived Fit of a Sound Logo with its Attached Brand
The question as to whether a sound logo is congruent with the advertised brand or not is expected to impact consumer brand evaluation. We are following MacInnis and Park (1991: 162),
who used the concept of fit in their research on music in advertising, with their understanding of
fit as the "subjective perceptions of the music's relevance or appropriateness to the central ad
message". However, in using songs with lyrics, they set a focus on the examination of the verbal
appropriateness of music within certain advertising spots (visual elements and brand claims).
Furthermore, it has to be taken into account that when acoustic stimuli are used in advertising,
they are experienced holistically, so the sound is interpreted along with the whole advertisement
(Scott 1990; MacInnis and Park 1991; Kellaris, Cox, and Cox 1993). This leads to the emergence
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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of a new meaning based on multi-level rhetoric and cannot be understood as adding up to several
meanings (Bode 2006). Hung (2000) examined the congruence of music with visuals in TV
commercials and found that spots which played music that was incongruous with the visuals resulted in a negative evaluation of the product image. Lavack, Thakor, and Bottausci (2008) investigated the effects of high-cognition advertisements combined with either no background music at all, or background music that was either congruent or incongruent with the brand. Results
suggested that brand image was significantly more positive in the congruent music conditions
than in either the incongruent music conditions or the no-music conditions. We assume the related effects to be equally relevant for background music as for sound logos.
H2: The better the perceived fit of (a) sound logo, (b) background music, the more positive
the brand evaluation.
It was further found that spots containing music that was incongruent with the visuals made
viewers feel uncomfortable (Hung 2000). One may assume that consumers transfer this discomfort back to the causing stimulus, resulting in a less favorable evaluation of the stimulus. Comparable effects for sound logos would thus lead to less favorable attitudes. Thus we hypothesize:
H3: The better the perceived fit of (a) sound logo, (b) background music, the more positive
consumer attitudes towards (a) the sound logo, (b) background music.
4. METHOD
4.1 Approach
To test the model, an experiment was conducted that aimed to understand respondents’ perceptions of sound logos and background music and their impact on brand evaluation. The centerpiece of the 2 different questionnaire versions was a short presentation of 3 advertisements related to an automotive brand of (car), a mobile phone network provider (phone), and an energy
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
8
provider (energy). After each advertisement, respondents were asked to give their evaluations of
the presented brand. Questionnaire versions differed in the arrangement of brand presentations:
in the first version participants were exposed to a sound logo at the beginning and the end of
each advertisement. The second version used in the questionnaire used background music to accentuate the advertised products and services.
To avoid participants focusing on the acoustic stimuli under scrutiny, the study was carried out with the working title "Perception of New Brands" as a "cover story". To ensure that respondents could actually hear the sounds during the online presentation, they were required to
answer an initial question about an optical-acoustic stimulus (a “baa-ing” dog) before being allowed to continue.
4.2 Experimental Manipulation
Prior studies which deal with the effect of music and sound in advertising can be categorized into
2 fundamental research designs. One group used the advertising material of existing brands for
their survey (e.g. Lavack, Thakor, and Bottausci 2008) and was thus biased by prior brand experiences. These studies have been criticized because the long-term accumulated preferences and
impressions of the test subjects are likely to be set in stone, so that it is very unlikely that they
will be changed by a single stimuli contact. The other group deployed self-designed advertising
material of fictitious brands (e.g. Meissner 1973; Simpkins and Smith 1974; Tauchnitz 1990)
and thus used only fictitious material. The central point of criticism of these studies is the content
and formal character of the self-made advertising material. Self-composed jingles or amateurish
melodies in commercials do not convey the same impression of quality as the originals produced
by advertising specialists. Respondents realize this – consciously or subconsciously. Hence, we
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
9
have developed an approach that combines the advantages of both approaches and equally avoids
their disadvantages.
To obtain a realistic evaluation of the impact of sound logos on consumer attitudes, the
study used genuine sound logos in association with genuine ads and footage. The intention was
that the necessary professionalism relating to the artistic appearance and content integration
should be ensured. To avoid bias through using known brands, we drew on material of new and
small advertising campaigns for the car and energy samples. We replaced the brand names in the
adverts, which could have been recognized, with fictional "association-free" brand names using
image editing software. For the phone sample the stimuli were taken from a mobile phone network provider which was just launching its new brand in a neighboring country with the same
language, about 500 miles from the survey region at that time. In this way a neutral initial situation was created regarding the 3 brands for all participants, because no pre-existing knowledge
about a genuine brand needed to be taken into account. To ensure this, it was ascertained through
pretests and investigation after the survey that the presented stimuli appeared professional and
were not known to the respondents. Furthermore, results for the real-world material concerning
the phone brand appeared to be consistent with the slightly adapted car stimuli and thus indicated
that no relevant biases resulted from the experimental material.
4.3 Sample
To test the model, an online survey was distributed to students from a German state university.
Respondents were asked to evaluate brands based on an advertisement which was presented with
either background music or with a sound logo. A total of 340 respondents completed the online
survey during a 10-day period in January and February 2008, taking 21 minutes on average. The
sample consisted of 159 females and 181 males. The average age of respondents was 25.7 years.
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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174 respondents were exposed to the sound logo version of the questionnaire and 166 to the version with background music. No significant socio-demographic differences differentiated these 2
sub-samples.
4.4 Measurement Model
Following the suggestions by Bergkvist and Rossiter (2007) we operationalized the specific singular objects, consumer attitudes and perceived fit, as single-item measures. These were captured
by the statements: “I like the sound logo of brand name” and “The sound logo of brand name
fitted the brand” and or “I like the brand name music” and “The brand name music fitted the
brand” respectively. In contrast, the brand evaluation construct was quantified by a multi-item
scale, as superior measuring properties can be expected (e.g. Churchill 1979). Therefore items
suggested by LaTour (LaTour and Henthorne 1994; LaTour, Snipes, and Bliss 1996; LaTour and
Rotfeld 1997) and Aaker (1997), which represent the 3 dimensions of Excitement, Admiration,
and Potential, were applied. Hence, brand evaluation was measured as a 2-level reflective construct with 5 items for Excitement (unique, interesting, unmistakable, innovative, surprising) and
Potential (successful, reliable, intelligent, high class, trustworthy) and 3 items for the Admiration
dimension (coherent, superior, good).
For the sake of consistency, agreement scales with 7 categories were used throughout the
questionnaire from 1 = “completely disagree” to 7 = “completely agree”. The 3 brand dimensions demonstrated good reliability for all industries (α=0.71 for Brand Admiration in the Car
sample, all others above 0.8) (Nunnally 1978). Furthermore, the attribution of the Excitement,
Potential, and Admiration dimensions to the aggregate Brand Evaluation construct seemed to be
reliable (α > 0.8 for all industries) and extracted 78 per cent of the variance in the brand evalua-
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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tion across sub-samples. An acceptable goodness was achieved for the measurement model,
reaching the 0.9 threshold for GFI, CFI, and NFI in all 3 sub-samples.
4.5 Analysis
The measurement properties were first assessed with explorative and confirmatory factor analysis as well as Cronbach’s alpha using SPSS 17.0 and AMOS 17.0 (the 2-step approach as recommended by Anderson and Gerbing 1988). We then used the maximum likelihood algorithm
(Bollen 1989) to perform the analyses. As Table 1 reveals, fit indices of the structural model exceed the threshold levels proposed in the literature, except for AGFI and RMR in the phone subsample which falls marginally below.
----------------------------------Insert table 1 & 2 about here
-----------------------------------5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The proposed model (see figure 1 above) was estimated by applying structural equation modeling (SEM). The model evaluation (table 2) reveals support for most of our expectations.
First, consumer attitudes have an influence on the evaluation of the attached brands. With path
coefficients exceeding 0.36 for the car stimulus and 0.50 for the phone stimulus, the results seem
substantial, significant, and consistent across the sub-samples. However, regarding the energy
stimulus, the path is significant and strong (0.42) for the sound logo sub-sample but weaker
(0.16) for the background music sub-sample, where the results fall slightly below the 95 % confidence interval. Thus, while hypothesis H1a is fully supported, hypothesis H1b finds strong support but with a qualification for the energy stimulus.
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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Moreover, we hypothesized an influence from perceived fit on consumer brand evaluation (H2).
The collected data provides support for H2b as this relationship is significant over all 3 stimuli in
the music background sub-sample. In the sound logo sub-sample, however, this path has only
weak path coefficients of no more than 0.10 and remains insignificant. It is particularly noteworthy that this result is again consistent over all 3 stimuli. Additionally, with a confidence of less
than 65 per cent, the deviations from the common significance thresholds are substantial. Thus,
H2a should be rejected.
Finally, within consumers’ perceptions of an acoustic element, there is a strong relationship between perceived fit and consumer attitudes. With path coefficients between 0.38 and 0.65, this
relationship finds substantial and highly significant support for both sound logos and background
music in all 3 sub-samples. Consequently hypotheses H3a and H3b are fully supported by the data.
This suggests that the effect from perceived fit on consumer brand evaluation is completely mediated by consumer attitudes. The criteria suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986) were all fulfilled. Moreover, Sobel test results are highly significant in all 3 sub-samples (car: 3.44; phone:
4.82; energy: 3.96). Furthermore, total effect measures (table 2, bottom line) are substantial,
ranging from 0.27 to 0.49 for the mediated path. It is further noteworthy that total effects for the
car and phone stimuli differ only marginally between the sound logo and background music subsamples.
R2 values range from 0.17 to 0.36 (see table 3). Thus the investigated constructs of consumer attitudes and perceived fit explain a relevant part of the variance in the brand evaluation construct.
This is particularly the case as other influences such as product performance, product involvement, and the impact of visual brand presentation (which was not varied in the given case) are
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
13
expected to strongly impact on consumer brand evaluation. The results support the general assumption that acoustic elements may be part of an integrated brand identity. The highest explanatory power for consumer brand evaluation is achieved for the phone stimulus; moreover it
becomes apparent that background music better explains consumer brand evaluation than sound
logos. This is to be expected considering the very short time of exposure to sound logos compared with the substantially longer exposure to background music.
-----------------------------Insert table 3 about here
-----------------------------6. IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION
We investigated the impact of sound logos on consumer brand evaluation. First, we found that
perceived fit of and consumer attitudes towards sound logos are both positively related to consumer brand evaluation. Compared to background music, the impacts were slightly weaker but
still substantial. Thus companies would be wise to consider sound logos when managing their
brand identities.
Second, in our study, consumer attitudes fully mediated the impact of the perceived fit of
sound logos on brand evaluation. While fit with established corporate brand identities seems to
be given priority in current business practice, this finding implies that perceived fit of a sound
logo should always be considered alongside consumer attitudes, and that consumer attitudes
should possibly be regarded as of even greater importance than perceived fit for short stimuli.
We further suggest that these results might also apply to other brand elements to which consumers are only exposed for a short time. For instance, one might rethink the design of outdoor advertising and hypothesize positive consumer attitudes to the poster to be more important than
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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perceived fit with the brand. Together with the impact of consumers’ short exposure to traditional advertising material, we would consider repeated stimuli exposure of sound logos as an area
that requires further sound investigation. Our experimental setting investigated the effects of a
one-time exposure to a sound logo compared with background music. In contrast, a real life setting would cover the repeated exposure to a brand’s visual and acoustic identity over multiple
weeks in different settings.
Third, we found that the positive relationship between perceived fit and consumer attitudes is higher for sound logos than for background music. This result becomes particularly influential when assuming that consumer attitudes are more likely than perceived fit to trigger indirect positive brand influences (e.g. word of mouth). In this context, the strong fit–attitudes link
would further increase the importance of sound logos’ brand fit. Hence, the creative process for
sound logos should include some special attention to perceived fit. For future research, we thus
suggest investigating the impact of sound logos on a broader range of brand effects, such as loyalty or word of mouth. Moreover, future investigations should integrate aspects like product performance, visual brand presentation, and product involvement. The case for further studies
around product involvement is especially compelling, as it has been shown that highly-involved
consumers may respond to a strong perception of negative fit through increased brand evaluation
(Bozman, Muelling, and Pettit-O'Malley 1994).
Overall, the study has shown that sound logos are important to corporate branding, and
that their design process should integrate both perceived fit and consumer attitudes.
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
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Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
FIGURE 1
Model of acoustic perceptions and their impact on consumer brand evaluation
Measurement
Model
Structural Model
Measurement
Model
x3
x1
Brand Excitement
Consumer
Attitudes
x4
x5
x6
H1:+
x7
x8
Brand
Evaluation
H3 :+
Brand
Admiration
x9
x10
x11
H2 :+
x12
x2
Perceived
Fit
Brand
Potential
x13
x14
x15
19
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
TABLE 1
Goodness of the Overall Model Fit
Goodness of the Overall Model
CFI
Car
1.0
Phone
0.98
Energy
0.99
Suggested
threshold
≥ 0.9
NFI
0.99
0.97
0.98
≥ 0.9
Bagozzi and Yi (1988)
GFI
0.996
0.97
0.99
≥ 0.9
Joereskog and Soerbom (1996)
AGFI
0.99
0.89
0.95
≥ 0.9
Bagozzi and Yi (1988)
RMR
0.028
0.085
0.032
≤ .05
Byrne (1998)
RMSEA
< 0.01
0.08
0.04
≤ 0.08
MacCallum et al. (1996)
Source of suggested threshold
Hair et al. (1998)
CFI: comparative fit index; NFI: normed fit index; (A)GFI: (adjusted) goodness-of-fit index;
RMR: root mean square residual index; RMSEA: root mean square error of approximation
20
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
TABLE 2
Path coefficients and significances based on the AMOS structural equation modeling
Car
Sound logo
Hypothesis / Model path
α
t
Phone
Music
α
t
Sound logo
α
t
Energy
Music
α
t
Sound logo
α
t
Music
α
t
H1: Consumer Attitudes > Brand evaluation
0.36 3.62
0.37 4.26
0.53 5.51 0.50 5.95
0.42 4.21
0.16
1.95
H2: Perceived Fit > Brand evaluation
0.10 1.04
0.23 2.80
0.06 0.76 0.19 2.54
0.00 -0.04
0.42
4.92
H3: Perceived Fit > Consumer Attitudes
0.63 10.7
0.38 5.28
0.59 9.64 0.40 5.59
0.65 11.2
0.44
6.29
0.33
0.37
0.37
0.27
0.49
total effect:
Perceived Fit > Brand Evaluation
Note: Significant path coefficient at p < 0.05 set bold.
0.39
21
Sound Logos’ Brand Impact
TABLE 3
R2 values based on the AMOS structural equation modeling
Car
Phone
Energy
Sound logo
Music
Sound logo
Music
Sound logo
Music
Consumer Attitudes
0.40
0.14
0.35
0.16
0.42
0.19
Brand evaluation
0.18
0.26
0.32
0.36
0.17
0.26
22